Nightmares
by TearStainedAngel24
Summary: Jay suffered from horrific nightmares. Tim did his best to help, he really did. Written for MHficweek13.


**A/N: It's been a while since I've uploaded anything, so apologies if anything is poorly formatted.**

He didn't know when the whole routine started. The days and weeks and months and years blurred together and time had little meaning anymore. He tried to keep them in order, but it was difficult. The best he could give you would be sometime after teaming up with Tim, but that much was obvious to anyone.

Nightmares were a frequent occurrence for Jay. It was rare a night passed without at least one. Some were of his old friends, eyeless and screaming. Others featured the bloodied bodies of the people he loved, with whispers curling around him like a toxic fog that described in detail all of his faults. Quiet a few were of shadowed forests, eerie and silent, with nothing but pale masks and blank faces experiencing the darkness. The most terrifying, however, he couldn't remember.

He wasn't sure he wanted to.

They left him breathless and dizzy and on the verge of tears. And it was after waking up from one of these dreams it all started. He jerked awake, clawing at the motel sheets and desperately trying to get enough air into his lungs to clear his ringing head. Shadows darted and bent all around him. Both his vision and hearing were blurry, as if he were underwater, and although the room was dark, it was spinning. The bed beneath him seemed to convulse and tilt and wave with every shuddering breath. He grabbed the twisted sheets beside him, trying to steady a motion that, in reality, wasn't even occurring. He tried to grasp on to the last fading tendrils of his dream, but they slipped away like mud under clenched fingers. As he came slightly more to his senses, he tried to quiet his gasping sobs in an attempt to be courteous to who ever may be around, and his roommate. He didn't know that Tim was in the same boat as him, and hadn't even tried to sleep yet in fear of the horrors that haunted his dreams.

A gentle hand on his shoulder caused him to jerk violently and look frantically for a source.

"Jay! Jay, calm down, it's just me." Tim harshly whispered, shaking him ever so slightly. Jay blinked blearily, and Tim wasn't sure if the other man even recognised him. It didn't matter though, because either way Jay's shoulders slumped as he relaxed, running a hand though his disheveled hair.

"Here, I, er...heard you wake up. I was by the sink, so I just..." Tim shifted slightly and held a cup of water out to Jay. He wasn't sure why he was making excuses, he had been no where near the sink.

Jay stared at the small, tan mug for half a minute, enough time for Tim to start feeling uncomfortable, before finally registering what it was and taking it with shaking hands. Luckily Tim had enough forethought to only fill it half way. Now that he was a little more awake, he realised how thirsty he was. Even if it was terrible, chemically flavoured city water, it was much appreciated. He murmured his thanks and tentatively sipped at the water. Tim nodded, padding back over to his side of the room. Jay shut his eyes and managed to get his breathing under control. As he finished the drink, Jay found himself feeling tired again. His trembling had subsided almost entirely. He set the now empty cup down on the floor next to him, and straightened out his bed a little. Tim looked up from his phone at the sound of Jay's shuffling, and watched from the corner of his eye as the other man roughly reorganised the sheets. Then Jay rolled over, curled up, and settled into his new position. Soon, his breathing evened out, and Tim caught himself smiling ever so slightly.

And so that's how it was. Every time Jay woke from one of his nightmares, Tim would calm him down, give him some water, and go back to doing whatever it was that he was doing. It didn't matter if Tim was sleeping at the time, because Jay would always wake him up, being the light sleeper that he was. Although at times it could be frustrating, he didn't feel the need to complain to Jay. In fact, it didn't both him. Tim was almost glad to be able to help him with the nightmares. At least he was sleeping. Perhaps Tim was compensating for the times he had woken up, terrified and utterly alone with his mind.

He didn't like to follow that train of thought for too long.

There were times when the nightmares were so bad Jay would just sit there, shaking, glassy eyed and silent. Tim would sit beside him and rub his back as comfortingly as he could manage. Sometimes Jay didn't even fully wake up before falling asleep again, collapsing right back into his original position. When this happened, Tim had the overwhelming urge to pull the blankets back over him. Often times he did. Neither of them spoke about it, avoiding making the situation awkward. Perhaps both were afraid the other would tell them to stop. But neither of them thought it mattered, so it didn't.

When Jay woke from his nightmare with choking sobs and a head full of abyss, he expected someone to put a hand on his shoulder. He expected someone to snap him out of it. He expected someone to hand him some water. He expected someone to stay with him until he was at least a little better.

'Don't follow me!'

Oh. Right.

There was no Tim. And as he calmed down, much slower than usual, he remembered. He remembered the tape, he remembered Jessica, he remembered the lies. And, not for the first time, he wished he could forget.

But that didn't change the present, and he lay back on the bed, listening to the sounds of the motel. Though it was busy, the room he was in was small and silent and very, very empty. Turning over, he stared at the crimson glowing numbers informing him of the ungodly hour. And he watched as they ticked onwards, and as the light fell over his bed did nothing to chase the shadows away. He was horrendously tired, the kind that made your bones ache and your eyes sore, yet he couldn't fall asleep.

It was too quiet.

It was too empty.


End file.
